YUME-MI

A fanfic by Jashi

Holllla! Hehe. I am officially sorry for being so evil with the last chapter…(^_^) "Dude, Where's My Father?" was what I was originally going to call this chapter…but it's not meant to be. But I will continually in my head think of this as the "Dude, Where's My Father?" chapter.

Hehe, on to the reading. Have fun with ancestral discoveries.

OH FYI: Um…this whole chapter is talk between AYAKO and NAIFU NO AKUMA until it says it's not…so Naifu no Akuma is in bold italics and Ayako is in regular print.

Chapter Fifteen…

Your father?

Yes, my father. Who was he? Or is he? Please tell me the story of my father.

Ayako, you must be prepared for truths about your father. Do not be afraid of what I will say.

How many times must I tell you? I am not afraid. I will not break. Do your worst.

Don't lie.

Lying to myself is pleasurable. I find it an enjoyable activity. Telling the truth is just as fun too.

Now I will tell you the story.

…finally.

Your father's name was Ken Jiang. He was a traveler of sorts. He came across your mother about two years before you were born. They fell in love quickly and passionately.

Your father's mother's name was Suzume.

In order to understand your father's story, I first must tell you Suzume's. She is the reason you are a dream-seer.

Suzume was born in the Shu-Shang prefecture as were you. She was born to a poor family, like you.

It is uncanny how much the two of you are alike.

Hmmm…does the income of our family and the place we were born in effect our destinies?

If you would listen…

I AM.

I'm sure you are. Suzume was made a dream-seer by the gods Byakko and Genbu. She was not hereditarily born one. The process was quite painful for her. People began to react…nastily to her.

I know how she feels. Or felt.

That is one thing I think you may understand. Insanity? Yes. Many people thought she had insanity. As they will you, for your information.

Oh… But…I knew that…

Once in a while a sanitarium or jail would come after her and try to imprison her.

Did they ever catch her?

They came after her for three years, until Genbu no Miko came. Then she finally was freed…as in a way you were. But she was still shunned by almost everyone, locked away. She wasn't able to tell anyone of her prophecies, she had no magical training. One day she broke out, and ran to the country of the god Byakko. She met a man there, and had a child, Ken. She left Ken with an orphanage of sorts, a house of the poor, and continued her trek. Wherever she went she was known, and often stoned and beaten. When she reached Konan, she was an old woman. She had somehow learned the magic of prophecy. In her last, dying days, she wrote down everything she knew. In a language unknown to all. Including myself.

A language…as she died…she must have been brilliant. Brilliant yet horribly shunned. Where did she die?

She drowned in a river flood.

WAIT A SECOND. How old was she? You said her last dying days. Was she dying when she drowned?

Suzume Jiang was twenty-seven years old when she died in the Jya-Gan River's flood. She did not know she was going to die. In her last days, she had just been writing down things, as though by force. Compellation.

She was found the next morning…and her hair was as white as the snow in Kutou.

…

The scrolls she had written all disappeared, and were probably ruined in the flood of Jya-Gan. Suzume is buried somewhere in an unmarked grave. The scrolls were lost…but oh well.

…

Jiang?

…

I see.

How…How can you just say that? 'The scrolls were lost, but oh well.' All that knowledge…simply lost.

And you don't even care! That knowledge could save lives, could save HUNDREDS of lives! AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS, 'OH WELL.'?!

I understand your anger. The knowledge in those scrolls were priceless and lost. And I can feel remorse. But you will most likely write scrolls of prophecy, destiny, and knowledge of your own.

That doesn't matter. I need something like that.

You have me instead. Instead of the scrolls lost at Jya-Gan river, you have me, the endless fountain of

information. I was once a demon, a terrible demon who walked the night drinking the blood of humans.

And now you're a piece of kitchen ware.

…

What purpose do you have for me now? To fear you? A demon reduced to a knife. How did you become such a small, miserable thing?

A band of priestesses and monks who worshipped the gods came and imprisoned and purified me. They said I could live, only, I would be reduced to a state of where only certain people could touch me, and where I could be a help to the world.

So they made you…a demon knife. A knife to help us?

A knife to help the prophets. To help them whack through strife. I am still terribly powerful even in this state. But the power is not mine. It is yours. The powers of the prophets now fuel me. And you are the only one alive at this moment who can control me.

Not even Taiitsukun can use you? The Gods?

YOU. ARE. THE. ONLY. ONE.

Oh my gods. And then, Naifu no Akuma, why am I here? Why does this world need me?

The gods created Suzume so they could have you…with purpose. You are the last of your kind. There will be no more dream-seers after you.

Are you saying…are you saying I am all alone?

You are the last one.

And…my purpose here…is because of the two groups of feuding seishi?

Yes.

*images float across Ayako's mind*

It's cold…very cold. I'm high too. There's snow…this is the country of Genbu. Hokkan. But something is strange here...something is wrong.

A wolf. No, a wolf-man. And a tall, purple haired man…

Oh my god.

They're fighting…and I can't tell who's winning.

"Nuriko!" I shout.

Time for your first lesson…how to change the future.

Change the future?

You can save Nuriko…but you must have enough courage to go after Ashitare.

I have the courage. Just believe in those who are weak.

You said that to Nijiko as well.

That I did.

You can teleport yourself to the mountain in Hokkan. You've done it before. And I would recommend you stay with the seishi. You can learn more there. And much will come to you naturally, rather than be taught.

Y'know what? Great. But I'm going. I'm going NOW.

(and this is where the conversation between Ayako and Naifu no Akuma ends. Ah, I enjoyed writing that! I guess Ayako learned more about her grandmother than her father, eh? A bit offtrack, but that's okay.)

(AYAKO'S POV)

I focus. I try. It stings when I begin to go, but I'm too rushed with adrenaline. I'm feeling, I'm falling, I'm dying, I'm being reborn or SOMETHING.

I fall, and I hit something.

Soft, white, cold snow. I'm there.

"Nuriko!" I yell. They are fighting a distance away, and I rack my mind.

((TASUKI! TASUKI!!)) my mind screams towards the most open person at the moment. I can feel his thoughts, how he is responding.

"What?"

((Tasuki! It's me, AYAKO! I'm on the mountain to the east!))

"Ayako? What the f*ck is it?"

((Dammit, Tasuki, get your ass up here! Nuriko is fighting with a Seiryu, who looks like a wolf-man! Get Mitsukake and the others NOW!))

I cut the connection, ,knowing he heard me. I hurtle towards the battle, Naifu no Akuma instructing me.

Focus your energy on the creation of something new…the creation, not the destruction will save the Suzaku and the Seiryu. Push your energy out, and pick the place between the both of them. Shove it out, use words! I will give you the words you need…

This amazing energy is running through my arms, and something whispers in my head, a hush-hush quiet whisper that tells me everything, that changes me, from my fear to courage, from my hair, black to white, from my voice, shaky to strong. The words are odd…words never put together before...

My hands fly, and so do I, as I, myself, fly between Nuriko and the Seiryu.

"SHI TODOMERU ISSAI!" I scream, my hands flying, bodies hitting the ground, and I'm pummeling into the snow, the cold wet snow.

a/n: Shi Todomeru Issai means literally, "death stops everything" Please forgive and correct me if I'm wrong! Yeah…I take Japanese…but I looked this up on JEDI.

I raise my head, and all my adrenaline is gone. I quickly crawl/move over to Nuriko. He's breathing and wounded, but nothing fatal. Nuriko stirs and opens his eyes. He sits up.

"A-A-A-Ayako?" he stutters.

"Yeah…It's me…" I say. The Seiryu stirs and jumps up, his hair standing on end.

Oh god, he's frightening. I draw Naifu, who immediately seems to 'buzz'.

Put me away. You don't need me. Concentrate on keeping your purple-haired friend alive. Ashitaire will be killed even if he lives.

I quickly put him away, and take some sort of battle stance.

((Tasuki, where are you?)) my mind demands.

"I'm coming, god dammit! I just saw some bright thingie of light. Is that where you and Nuriko are?"

((WOW! I didn't know you were smart, Tasuki! YES, THAT'S WHERE WE ARE!))

"Che! No need to give me a headache!"

((I'll give you more than a headache if you don't get up here in more than fifteen minutes.))

I cut the connection again, before he can think of a good comeback.

Nuriko and Ashitare suddenly run at each other, and there I am, flying after him, flailing, fighting, something, I can't tell. I don't know, it's all happening too fast. Nuriko jumps over Ashitare, outsmarting him for a second, then Aishitare turns, his claw out, and I'm running, I'm there, and I throw myself into Aishitare, knocking him away.

He snarls, I move, something bites down, and it hurts, ow, ow, Itai, mother of gods!

Aishitare's teeth release themselves from my collar, as I turn with my knife and stab him in the shoulder. He twists away, and Nuriko grabs him around the throat, and squeezes, and squeezes and then I feel something leaving, something twisting away, something totally going.

Shi todomeru issai shi todomeru issai shi todomeru issai shi todomeru issai shi todomeru issai shi todomeru issai

Death ends everything, totally and ultimately.

I move over to Nuriko. He's fallen down on the snow, exhausted.

"Daijobu…desu…ka?' I murmur.

"I'm fine…scratched and bruised…but that's about it…You?"

"He bit me…and scratched me and yeah…that's about it…" I collapse in the snow, my arms still supporting me in the sitting position.

" I need to move that rock…" he says. I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Do it when Mitsukake comes and he heals you." I say, "in fact, I hear them coming, I think."

I can hear someone coming…Tasuki most likely. And maybe Mitsukake. Damn that bite hurts. What if I get rabies or something? Who's gonna save me then, huh?

"OI! IS ANYONE UP HEEEEEEEEEERE?" Tasuki's voice shouts.

"Yes, you baka! We're up here!" I say just so he can hear me.

Two people are alive, and one is dead on this outcropping of rock. It's better than two, or all of us dead.

I suppose I did well.

Nuriko really did it though…it wasn't much of me.

But I did help.

And we're alive right?

&*&*&*&*&&*&*

Weeeee! That was fun. Heheehe. Nuriko isn't DEAD! And neither is Tamahome's FAMILY! YAY! *cheers*

Haha, can you figure Ayako's purpose? And I suppose…will she ever learn of what her grandmother wrote?

Here's till then! ~~~Jashi